Feasibility of Recovering Valuable and Toxic Metals from Copper Slag Using Iron-Containing Additives
One of the greatest environmental challenges in metal extraction is the generation of a large amount of slag. Most of these slags contain insufficient amounts of valuable metals for economical revalorization, but these concentrations may be harmful for the environment. At present, more than 80% of t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Metals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/13/8/1467 |
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| author | Aleksandar M. Mitrašinović Yang Yuankun Srecko Stopic Milinko Radosavljević |
| author_facet | Aleksandar M. Mitrašinović Yang Yuankun Srecko Stopic Milinko Radosavljević |
| author_sort | Aleksandar M. Mitrašinović |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | One of the greatest environmental challenges in metal extraction is the generation of a large amount of slag. Most of these slags contain insufficient amounts of valuable metals for economical revalorization, but these concentrations may be harmful for the environment. At present, more than 80% of the global copper products are obtained by the smelting process, where the major by-products are various slags containing a broad range of almost all known elements. In this study, valuable and potentially harmful elements were recovered from mining waste using gravity separation and gravity settling. The settling process was enhanced by injecting coke, ferrocarbon, ferrosilicon, and ferrosulfide. In total, 35 elements were detected in the samples using electron probe microanalysis. After the treatment, 89.4% of the valuable, toxic, and trace elements gathered in the newly formed matte after maintaining the copper slag for four hours at 1300 °C and adding ferrosilicon. The metallic constituents of slags could be an important source of raw materials and they could be considered an environmentally beneficial source of copper and other materials. Suggested practices can prevent harmful elements from entering the environment, generate value from the gathered metals, and make the remaining slag suitable for construction or mine backfill materials. The present article also assesses the challenges in slag processing by the pyrometallurgical route and provides a roadmap for further investigations and large-scale studies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:45:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ff775eebbafc407b8f4c8abd7cfecd93 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4701 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:45:09Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Metals |
| spelling | doaj.art-ff775eebbafc407b8f4c8abd7cfecd932023-11-19T02:11:39ZengMDPI AGMetals2075-47012023-08-01138146710.3390/met13081467Feasibility of Recovering Valuable and Toxic Metals from Copper Slag Using Iron-Containing AdditivesAleksandar M. Mitrašinović0Yang Yuankun1Srecko Stopic2Milinko Radosavljević3The Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E4, CanadaSerbia Zijin Mining D.O.O., Brestovac, 19210 Bor, SerbiaSerbia Zijin Mining D.O.O., Brestovac, 19210 Bor, SerbiaMining Institute Belgrade, 11080 Belgrade, SerbiaOne of the greatest environmental challenges in metal extraction is the generation of a large amount of slag. Most of these slags contain insufficient amounts of valuable metals for economical revalorization, but these concentrations may be harmful for the environment. At present, more than 80% of the global copper products are obtained by the smelting process, where the major by-products are various slags containing a broad range of almost all known elements. In this study, valuable and potentially harmful elements were recovered from mining waste using gravity separation and gravity settling. The settling process was enhanced by injecting coke, ferrocarbon, ferrosilicon, and ferrosulfide. In total, 35 elements were detected in the samples using electron probe microanalysis. After the treatment, 89.4% of the valuable, toxic, and trace elements gathered in the newly formed matte after maintaining the copper slag for four hours at 1300 °C and adding ferrosilicon. The metallic constituents of slags could be an important source of raw materials and they could be considered an environmentally beneficial source of copper and other materials. Suggested practices can prevent harmful elements from entering the environment, generate value from the gathered metals, and make the remaining slag suitable for construction or mine backfill materials. The present article also assesses the challenges in slag processing by the pyrometallurgical route and provides a roadmap for further investigations and large-scale studies.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/13/8/1467mining wastesettlingrecoveryheavy metalsslagadditives |
| spellingShingle | Aleksandar M. Mitrašinović Yang Yuankun Srecko Stopic Milinko Radosavljević Feasibility of Recovering Valuable and Toxic Metals from Copper Slag Using Iron-Containing Additives Metals mining waste settling recovery heavy metals slag additives |
| title | Feasibility of Recovering Valuable and Toxic Metals from Copper Slag Using Iron-Containing Additives |
| title_full | Feasibility of Recovering Valuable and Toxic Metals from Copper Slag Using Iron-Containing Additives |
| title_fullStr | Feasibility of Recovering Valuable and Toxic Metals from Copper Slag Using Iron-Containing Additives |
| title_full_unstemmed | Feasibility of Recovering Valuable and Toxic Metals from Copper Slag Using Iron-Containing Additives |
| title_short | Feasibility of Recovering Valuable and Toxic Metals from Copper Slag Using Iron-Containing Additives |
| title_sort | feasibility of recovering valuable and toxic metals from copper slag using iron containing additives |
| topic | mining waste settling recovery heavy metals slag additives |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/13/8/1467 |
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